The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched a new online system to connect exporters of U.S. food and agricultural products with potential customers around the world. The Trade Lead System is free-of-charge and offers any company, small or large, new to exporting or already exporting, a way to learn what agricultural or food products foreign buyers are seeking. It also allows interested international buyers to search for potential suppliers of U.S. farm and food products.

IDFA encourages members to learn more about the system and to register. All potential sales leads are reviewed by FAS international offices and immediately distributed through the system to all registered users. FAS also will share the leads with U.S. agricultural trade associations and their members, individual state departments of agriculture and regional trade groups that partner with USDA to promote agricultural exports.

Companies can select the types of leads they wish to receive and can respond to the purchase requests in several ways. They can connect directly with the customer, work through their trade associations or coordinate with any of the 96 international FAS offices, which can help with translation and other services.

Registered users also can search sales leads by product names or by Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes, which offer global names and numbers to classify products.

To learn more about the Trade Lead System and to register, visit www.fas.usda.gov/trade-lead-system.

Members with questions may contact Beth Hughes, IDFA director of international affairs, at bhughes@idfa.org.